Tag Archives: MAC

Your complexion doesn’t have to be perfect since the warm California sun is a flattering filter enough, but when the moon grows bright and the lights of the city begin to shine, nothing is more beautiful than luminous skin.

Mind you,I said luminous, not shiny. The line between the two isn’t as fine as you’d think. The trick to achieving luminosity is having radiance everywhere on your face except for your T-zone- your forehead and your nose. Though we aim for the effortless, “this is my skin” look, it does take a few steps.

Here’s 4 step cheat sheet for that California chic glow that makes everyone look like the human equivalent of a nightingale!

Step 1: Moisturize

After cleansing (preferably with cleanser and water—not wipes!) make sure to prep the skin with a luscious application of a moisturizer. For those with normal to dry skin opt for a cream *1. For those with oily or combination skin, go with a hydrating gel*2.

1. Perricone Face Finishing Moisturizer – luxury in a bottle. Features Alpha Lipoic Acid, which is supposed to be the world’s strongest antioxidant. You will also love the natural rose scent it has.

2. Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel – absorbs to the skin beautifully without feeling like the product is on the surface. Hydrating but not uber-moisturizing- and yes, there is a difference.

Step 2: Primer

This often overlooked step could be the nudge that takes you from a housewife to a Real Housewife. A primer, well, primes the skin for foundation and the rest of the face color. Depending on which one you use, a primer could color correct any redness or jaundice (*3), fill in any noticeable pores (*4), or simply just smooth the surface out and mattify (*5)—all while keeping your makeup on longer.

*3. Smashbox Color Correcting Primers – so much variety! Whether is a dark spot correcting one, an oil free one, a hydrating one or a green one that corrects redness!

*4. Benefit Porefessional – Does exactly what it states. Best in the market for softening (partly filling in) the look of pores..

For a summer night out, I love the look of a radiant skin—matte, over-powdered skin, to me, looks corpse-like. Glow, people, glow! This makeup look is the perfectly suited to those with dry skin (*6-7), but those with oily skin could still benefit! (*8-9)

Though foundations are a staple- there is no better time to bring out Tinted Moisturizers, BB and CC Creams than summer. Tinted moisturizers are exactly what they sound like: Moisturizers with tint or pigments. BB stands for Beauty Balm, which incorporate skincare benefits to tinted moisturizers. CC stands for Color Correction, meaning that CC creams typically are BB creams focused on preventing and correcting dark spots and age spots. TM’s (*), BB’s (*) and CC’s (*) all can be worn without a moisturizer underneath!

*10. Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer – provides more coverage than most other tinted moisturizers in the market and is beautifully blendable.

*11. Bobbi Brown Tinted Balm – This beautiful balm (luxuriously oil-based, not to be associated with Beauty Balms) is perfect for those with very dry skin. Provides the most beautiful sheen on the face. If you have oily or combo skin, try and avoid!

*12. Urban Decay Naked BB Cream – Undetectable on the skin, your skin just looks simply better- this is due to the Optical Blur than it features!

As intended, Fashion Week informs the industry as to what’s “in” and what’s “out” for the season, and on that note, a “highly maintained lip” look is right on trend! Throughout several shows, one exciting trend has continued to make its way back to the runway, and that is the bold, statement pout.Whether it is fluorescent pink, oxblood red or charcoal black, designers all over Fashion Week are completing their collections with a bold lip color. Makeup artist Lucia Pieroni achieved Missoni’s stunning matte-lip by mixing pink and orange lip color, topping it off with a hint of red and finishing with a brush of pigment. Pat McGrath has been named, “the most influential make-up artist in the world” by Vogue Magazine (among others), so it is no secret she came to Fashion Week ready to apply the most effective beauty secrets in the biz. Just take a closer look at the bold red lips she graced Prada with this season, and demonstrated that contour isn’t just for the face. While Brood went with a more ‘feathered’ pigment lip-look and Moschino went straight to black (MAC’s Kohl Power Eye Pencil with MAC lip gloss on top, to be exact), and we are ready to hop on the bold lip color bandwagon this season!